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Overview

The conditions in which the school of Apollo appeared, the streams that formed it, its name and its magazine, and its artistic traits.
Who Mahmoud Hassan Ismail was, and the analysis of “I Love You, My Homeland” along its two axes: love and sacrifice.
Vocabulary, imagery, styles and music, the artistic unity of the text, and the values drawn from it.

"I Love You, My Homeland" (Mahmoud Hassan Ismail) and the school of Apollo
├── Origin (early 1930s · after the Diwan-vs-Revivalist battle · Apollo magazine and society 1932)
├── Streams (Mutran and the literary battle · English Romanticism · Mahjar and Gibran · the spirit of 1919)
├── Traits (personal experience · new language · love of nature · pessimism · many subjects)
├── Renewal of form (many rhymes · quiet music · stanzas · free verse · artistic unity)
├── Figures (Abu Shadi, Nagi, Ali Mahmoud Taha, al-Hamshi, Mahmoud Hassan Ismail, Shabibi...)
├── The poem: homeland as a living being · religious tolerance · the night as invasion
├── Axis 1 love · Axis 2 sacrifice and ransom
├── Vocabulary · imagery · styles · music · unity · values
└── Exam traps

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 1 / 14

First: the circumstances in which the school of Apollo appeared

The reality it emerged into

It appeared at the start of the fourth decade of the last century (the early 1930s), after a literary battle between the school of al-Diwan and the conservative poets (the Revivalists).
Shukri had stopped writing after his seventh diwan “Flowers of Autumn” (1918); his two friends al-Aqqad and al-Mazini attacked him, and then al-Mazini turned to journalism, the story and the essay.
Al-Aqqad alone remained of the Diwanists, occupied with literary genres other than poetry.
Into this reality — in which both the conservative and the al-Diwan directions had frozen — Apollo came trying to go past both of them and complete what was lacking in them.

The streams and forming factors of the school

Profit from Khalil Mutran, from the literary quarrel between Revivalists and Diwanists, and from the Romantic poetry — original and translated — and the critical articles published by al-Aqqad, al-Mazini and Shukri; so the school turned to renewal and to overwhelming emotion.
Influence by the European Romantics, the English above all the leader of the school Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi studied medicine in England for about ten years.
His colleagues (Ibrahim Nagi, Ali Mahmoud Taha, Mohamed Abdel-Mouatti al-Hamshi, Saleh Jawdat…) mastered foreign languages and read European and Russian literature.
Influence by the literature of Mahjar, above all the poetry of Gibrán Khalil Gibrán, which gave their verse a sharp emotional direction.
The spirit of liberation its poets felt the independence of the self and individual freedom, and were soaked in a revolutionary spirit ever since the 1919 revolution against the English occupation.

The name and the magazine

“Apollo” comes from Apollo, the Greek god of light, art and beauty; taking this name itself shows the influence of foreign cultures.
The school’s poetry is tied to the appearance of its magazine “Apollo” in 1932, and in the same year the Apollo Society was formed and took the magazine’s name.
They adopted Khalil Mutran as their spiritual father.
Only a little work of theirs had appeared before the magazine: Abu Shadi’s first diwan “Calls of the Dawn”, Ali Mahmoud Taha’s poem in “al-Dastour” newspaper (1918), and the Tunisian Abu al-Qasim al-Shabibi’s preface to his diwan “The Spring”.
But 1932 saw their real break-out and the publication of most of their diwans.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 2 / 14

Second: the artistic traits of the school of Apollo

1) The personal nature of the experience, and nostalgia

Belief in the personal (subjective) nature of the poetic experience, and longing for the lands of memory.
Example Ibrahim Nagi remembering the house of his beloved, so his heart flutters and he weeps over the wounded past; and al-Hamshi in “The Withered Orange” recalling the memories of his youth.

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
Using Arabic in a new way in word-sense, metaphor and image	“the lunar perfume” “the soft fragrance” “the weeping twilight” “the lost sailor” “the burnt breaths” “the lost paradise”	lunarperfumesoftfragrance
Words frequent in their poetry	the field the light tyranny death time perfume fragrance the sail the sailor blossom rose honey exile sunrise and sunset twilight and horizon the bank and the shore the oasis	fieldlighttyrannydeath
Embodiment (tajsid)	turning abstractions from the conceptual into the sensory — as when Nagi says that yearning withered and folded itself away	turningabstractionsconceptualsensory
Personification (tashkhis)	giving a human quality to the non-human — as al-Hamshi’s “the evening breeze steals a perfume”	givinghumanqualityHamshi
Symbol	and agile words and sometimes foreign words and myths: the carnival Osiris Venus Akhenaten	agilewordssometimesforeign
•	Care for imagery — the palm the light and the wind in Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and mythical images in most of its poets	Careimagerypalmlight

3) Love of nature

Devotion to nature, its beauty and intimate converse with it; their diwans and poems carry names that prove it: “Glimpses of Spring”, “Rays and Shadows”, “Return of the Shepherd”, “Over the Waves”, “The Spring” by Abu Shadi; “Songs on the Nile” by Saleh Jawdat; “Songs of the Cottage” by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail; “A Voice from the Sky” by Abu al-Qasim al-Shabibi.

Pessimism, surrender to pain and grief, contemplation and despair — so much that Mahmoud Hassan Ismail titled a diwan “Where Can I Flee?”.
There is no contradiction between loving nature and being pessimistic they flee to nature away from pain and pour their sorrows into it.

Woman, the suffering of life’s torment and injustice, nature, complaint, longing for memories, and the depiction of misery.

Distance from political poetry, except for Abu Shadi who wrote much of it, and Ibrahim Nagi.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 3 / 14

Third: renewal in the form of the poem at Apollo

Tendency to free the poem from a single rhyme by using many rhymes in one poem.
Tendency to quiet music rather than loud music.
Dividing the poem into stanzas whose rhymes and metres differ.
Use of free verse (al-shi’r al-mursal) which keeps no single rhyme and employs more than one metre — the boldest being Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi in his poem “The Artist”, and Saleh al-Sharnoubi who wrote “Glimpses” as free verse.
Commitment to artistic unity in most of their work, like all Romantics: “The Shore of Araf” by al-Hamshi, “The Ruins” and “The Epic of the Mirage” by Nagi, “Tariq bin Ziyad” and “Souls and Ghosts” by Ali Mahmoud Taha.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 4 / 14

Fourth: the figures of the school

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
From Egypt	Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi (the leader of the school) Ibrahim Nagi (the physician) Ali Mahmoud Taha (the engineer) Mohamed Abdel-Mouatti al-Hamshi Mahmoud Hassan Ismail Saleh Jawdat Saleh al-Sharnoubi Jamila al-Alayli Hassan Kamil al-Sayrafi Taher al-Tanahi Mustafa Abdel-Latif al-Saharti Mukhtar al-Wakil Ahmed Rami Kamal Nishat Abdel-Rahman al-Khumaysi Fouzi al-Antayil Abdel-Aziz Atayqa	AhmedZakiShadileader
From the Arabs	Abu al-Qasim al-Shabibi and Mohamed al-Halaywi (Tunisia) Nazik al-Malaika in the early part of her life and al-Jawahiri (Iraq) Mohamed al-Mahjoub Tawfiq al-Bakri and al-Tijani (Sudan) Fahad al-Askar Ibrahim al-Aridis and Ahmed al-Adwani (Kuwait) Saqer al-Qasimi (Oman)	QasimShabibiMohamedHalaywi
From Mahjar	Elia Abu Madi and others	EliaMadiothers

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 5 / 14

Fifth: the poet

Mahmoud Hassan Ismail (1910–1977) an Egyptian poet.
In his early phase his poetry was shaped by his rural upbringing and his love of the countryside, as appears in his diwan “Songs of the Cottage”, by which he became known — he was called “the poet of the cottage”.
His poetic personality emerged very early, and he contributed to varifying the metres and the music of Arabic verse.
His images are marked by range in metaphor, the layering of borrowed images, and often strangeness; the effect of that is softened by the strength of his feeling and the heat of his emotion.
Many diwans were published for him; the most famous “Songs of the Cottage”, “Thus I Sing”, “At a Bow’s Two Lengths (Qab Qawsayn)” and “The River of Truth”, from which this text was chosen.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 6 / 14

Sixth: the idea of the text and the meaning of homeland

The homeland in the text

The homeland does not appear as a piece of land with borders, but as a living existence and a living world that fills the poet’s feeling and overflows with life and movement, in which creatures beat with life.
The phrase “ya kull… (O all…)” — a call plus the word “kull” (all) — recurs, followed by words from the world of sounds (a melody, a clap, a warble) that carry pleasing senses.
The sources of these sounds are the palate of the bird, the wave of the river, and the footsteps of the shepherds over the grass.
The word “kull” expresses generality and shows the amount of joy and rapture that floods the poet.
The first verse is the focus of the text the homeland is everything he wishes for; in it is beauty in all its colours, and in it are magic and love.

Religious tolerance

“To whom does the crescent raise its mosque? To whom does the cross show its temple?” — the mosque beside the church and the crescent alongside the cross.
The children of one homeland are joined by love of it and readiness to defend it whatever the challenges.

The night is the occupation, the trials and the hardships that threaten the homeland; its tyranny grew strong, but the poet promises to scatter it.
Everyone faces it the shores, the flowers, the lives, the breeze, the wave, the bird, and the hands that light the lamp of progress and hopes.
The means of resistance are not restricted to weapons — defending the homeland is an obligation on everyone belonging to it, by every possible means.
And the poet brings back the dawn of the homeland from the hand of ordeal, shining like the sun above the world.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 7 / 14

Seventh: the two axes of the text and the order of its ideas

Axis one: love

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
Speech about nature, the countryside above all	the singing of birds the sound of the wave the warbling of the shepherds — and about the beauty and magic of the homeland and the harmony and kindness of its people	singingbirdssoundwave
He declares love from the very first words	“I love you my homeland (ahwaak ya watani)” — a sentence repeated in the same structure or with some of its words with a variation that deepens the love	homelandahwaakwatanisentence

In the middle of the speech of love he turns to what the homeland is exposed to, and addresses it: “O rock that the winds of time weakened, while time itself was not weakened” — the winds grew weak and the rock stood firm.
Then he returns to love, which reaches its peak in “and love in you is renewed by every beating heart”.
Then he returns to the challenges, and the talk of ransom comes: “however tyrannical the night becomes, O my homeland… we will scatter it”.
Everything in the homeland turns into the price of its freedom and dignity: its earth, its sky, and all between them.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 8 / 14

Eighth: vocabulary of the text

Word (transliterated)	Meaning
lahat al-tayr	The flap of flesh above the throat, at the farthest roof of the mouth; its plural is lahawat — here “the palate of the bird”, source of its song
al-ru’yan	Plural of ra’i (shepherd): the one who guards and grazes the cattle
wahnat	She/it grew weak
lam tahin	It was not weakened
yahillu	It appears, it shows itself
mawriduhu	The watering place; also a source of livelihood; plural mawarid
istabada al-layl	The night grew tyrannical — i.e. the tyranny of the occupation became severe
bi-nasimik	The nasim is the soft wind that stirs no tree and erases no trace; plural nasa’im
rabiyah	Ground that rises above its surroundings; plural rawab
awqadat	She lit, she kindled
qabas	A flame taken from a fire — a torch a borrowed light
zagharid al-a’ras	Plural of zaghruda: the ululating sound of joy at weddings

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 9 / 14

Ninth: imagery and styles

Rhetorical images

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
“What the lip of love tells satisfies me (fatni)”	a borrowed image: love is likened to a living being with a lip that quenches the poet’s thirst and his yearnings	borrowedimagelikenedliving
“Every melody in the bird’s palate I play, and it plays me”	a reciprocal image: he plays the melody and the melody plays him expressing his merger with the homeland	reciprocalimageexpressingmerger
“The clap between the river’s waves I hear answering me in song”	personification of the wave as though it sang in harmony with the poet and delighted him	personificationthoughsangharmony
“The sound of the shepherds’ footsteps… enchants me”	the sound of footsteps becomes a warble that intoxicates him	becomeswarbleintoxicates
“O rock that the winds of time weakened”	the homeland is likened to a rock against the winds break and the challenges are likened to storm winds	homelandlikenedagainstbreak
The crescent and the cross	two symbols of Islam and Christianity	symbolsIslamChristianity
“He seeks magic (al-sihr) from its magic”	asking enchantment of the land that is itself enchantment	askingenchantmentlanditself
The night	a borrowed image for ordeal and challenge described as tyrannical and insolent and as something that is torn and burned as if it were material	borrowedimageordealchallenge
•	The resolve of the nation’s children is likened to a fire that lays bare the darkness of the night	resolvenationchildrenlikened
“Its melody makes me fragrant (u’attiruni)”	an interchange of the senses: what delights hearing is expressed by what delights smell	interchangesenseswhatdelights
•	The homeland as a living being that sets its own steps on the road of progress and hopes as plants set along the road by a hand that plants them	homelandlivingbeingsets
•	The night “goes too far” “we reap it” “we scatter it” — a thing that is reaped then the dawn of the homeland is taken back from the hand of ordeal	nightgoesreapscatter

Styles

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
Repeated invocation	“O my homeland” “O all…” “O rock”	homelandrock
Interrogation	“To whom is the crescent’s mosque and to whom the cross’s temple and to whom the beauty?” — purpose: assertion and pride not asking	whomcrescentmosquecross
Repetition	of “I love you my homeland” of “kull (all)” and “bi-kull (by every)” to confirm love and make it general	lovehomelandkullevery
Verbal sentences that express action	we scatter it we reap it we tear it we burn it we bring back your dawn	scatterreaptearburn
The conditional structure	“however tyrannical the night becomes… we will scatter it”	howevertyrannicalnightbecomes

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 10 / 14

Tenth: music and artistic unity

The poet varied the music of the poem, so it came out bewitching, with an agility that hints at love, happiness and optimism.
Rhyme spreads as the fragrance of love and hope for the homeland, and varies between the stanzas, as is the custom of the school of Apollo.
Artistic unity is achieved by unity of subject (the poet’s love for his homeland and its lovely memories) and unity of psychological atmosphere (the overwhelming emotion of that love).
The density and interweaving of images is a hallmark of Mahmoud Hassan Ismail, and it demands a special language rich in transferred and far-reaching metaphor.

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 11 / 14

Eleventh: the traits of Apollo in this text

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
Personal experience	the homeland is presented out of the poet’s own feeling and emotion	homelandpresentedpoetfeeling
Love of nature	the bird the wave the grass the breeze the flowers	birdwavegrassbreeze
A new language	interchange of the senses personification embodiment symbol	interchangesensespersonificationembodiment
Quiet music and varied rhyme
Artistic unity
•	But the text goes past the complaint usual in Romantic poetry to hope and defiance and it belongs to national poetry	textgoespastcomplaint

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 12 / 14

Twelfth: the values drawn from the text

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
Love of the homeland	and pride in belonging to it	pridebelonging
Sacrifice and ransom	of self and effort in its defence	selfeffortdefence
National unity and tolerance	between Muslims and Christians	betweenMuslimsChristians
Hope	that tyranny and ordeal pass away and the dawn is recovered	tyrannyordealpassaway
Esteem for the beauty of nature	and of the Egyptian countryside	Egyptiancountryside

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 13 / 14

Exam traps and key takeaways

Comparison aspect	Main idea	Keywords
•	Apollo appeared in the early 1930s and both its magazine and its society date to 1932 — do not move the school’s birth to the date of any single diwan	Apolloappearedearly1930s
Its streams are four	Mutran and the Revivalist-vs-Diwan battle · the European (English) Romantics through Abu Shadi’s ~10 years in England · Mahjar above all Gibrán · the spirit of liberation born of the 1919 revolution	MutranRevivalistDiwanbattle
Mutran is their “spiritual father”, not their founder	the founder-leader is Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi	leaderAhmedZakiShadi
Pessimism and love of nature do not contradict	nature is where they flee to pour out grief. A question may offer them as opposites	fleepourgriefquestion
Form renewal	many rhymes in one poem · quiet music · stanzas of differing rhyme and metre · free verse · artistic unity. Free verse = no fixed rhyme AND more than one metre the two examples are Abu Shadi’s “The Artist” and al-Sharnoubi’s “Glimpses”	manyrhymespoemquiet
They avoided political poetry except Abu Shadi (and Nagi)	a tempting “all Apollo poets shunned politics” statement is wrong	temptingApollopoetsshunned
Professions recur	Nagi the physician Ali Mahmoud Taha the engineer Abu Shadi the doctor Mahmoud Hassan Ismail is known as “the poet of the cottage” from “Songs of the Cottage” and the text itself is taken from “The River of Truth”	NagiphysicianMahmoudTaha
•	In the poem the homeland is a living being not a bounded piece of land “ya kull” is call + the general word “kull” signalling the breadth of joy	poemhomelandlivingbeing
•	The questions “to whom is the crescent’s mosque…” have the purpose of assertion and pride not requesting information the night is a symbol of the occupation and ordeal and the crescent–cross pair is religious tolerance and national unity	questionswhomcrescentmosque
Resistance here is not weapons alone	shores flowers lives breeze wave birds and the hands kindling the lamp all take part protecting the homeland is an obligation by every possible means	shoresflowerslivesbreeze
Imagery labels to keep separate	embodiment = abstraction made sensory (yearning withered) · personification = human quality given to the non-human (the breeze steals a perfume) · interchange of the senses = hearing described in the language of smell (“its melody makes me fragrant”)	embodimentabstractionmadesensory
•	Artistic unity here is unity of subject + unity of psychological atmosphere and the text’s special note is that it passes Romantic complaint into hope and defiance making it national poetry	Artisticunityheresubject

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo · 14 / 14

Curriculum

Arabic Language

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Lesson 4: I Love You My Homeland by Mahmoud Hassan Ismail and the School of Apollo